Excercising makes me insanely hungry!

Here's my story, sorry if it's too long:

About two months ago I was 152 pounds (I'm five foot five and a half inches tall, female, 23, medium frame and hourglass figure which carries weight everywhere but the waist). I decided to start running a couple of miles every morning. I was (and am) pretty out of shape cardio-wise, so two miles a day was a huge shift for me. I felt great! It gave me energy! My mind was clear! My leg muscles were getting more defined! And I wasn't losing an ounce despite a healthy diet.

That's when I decided to get really serious about calorie counting for first time in my LIFE, and I dropped seven pounds pretty effortlessly in about three weeks. I didn't exercise at all during those three weeks because I was super busy at work and didn't have time.

For the past three days I had time to run, so I did . . . and my diet went straight to heck. I KNOW that people overestimate calories burned during exercise and underestimate those in food, so I told myself that my runs were burning very little overall --- didn't matter to my body. Although my appetite is suppressed for a few hours after a run, both nights in the evening my appetite was enormous and I was actually having stomach pains that didn't stop until I ate a full 300-400 calories over my daily limit (which included the small and accurate number the run burned off)! I tried drinking lots of water to stave off hunger and it did nothing to help.

Sorry for being wordy but this is driving me nuts. I've had awesome success with calorie counting for weightloss and I find it easy to do. If I'm totally sedentary I have little appetite and no food cravings and I can happily eat 1200-1400 calories a day of balanced food and not feel deprived. But it seems like if I add in even moderate exertion (enough to make me sweat and breathe hard), suddenly I can't control myself! Excercising gives me a lot of mental benefits and I want to do it, but I really, really, really want to get down to 130 pounds.

Any thoughts, tips, reactions, stories? Do other people struggle with this?

Thanks,

Holly

Yeah, I think this is pretty common.

I went from practically zero exercise to averaging a bit over an hour per day all at once. At first, I was starving ALL the time, I also felt a bit fatigued and like I had no energy to study or be enthusiastic about anything.

One month on, I am experiencing the opposite. Firstly, I am enjoying the exercise more, but I am also feeling way more alert and energetic. As far as appetite goes, yes, I am still hungrier than I would be if I weren't exercising - but I am burning an extra 600 cals per day, so it makes sense that I would want to eat more. There is nothing wrong with hunger - it lets you know when you're full. As long as you're not eating more than you have burned through exercise, and you're still getting your desired deficit, it's not a problem.

There's a Time magazing article floating around about why exercise won't make you skinny (they claim this is because it makes you eat more - but most of this seems to just be uneducated people rationalising eating 3 donuts because they think they've burnt heaps of calories exercising). I disagree. I know personally that the days I don't exercise my mood is lower, and I am more inclined to eat the wrong foods etc. Even though I am hungrier when I exercise, I see this as a positive thing.

Soooo. I reckon after a while your body will get used to it and you're appetite will settle down. It might be a shock thing, like what I seemed to experience. If you actually desire to exercise, don't let the fear of overeating deter you, just be careful. Also, there could be a chance that you're burning more than you think? And maybe not actually going over your limit by as much as you estimate...just a thought.

Hope that was helpful in any way :)

First of all, congratulations you are off to a great start. 

Second, I'd add in some weight training to your routine.  Running will only take you so far and eventually you will plateau and get little results from your 2 mile run.  Also, try adding intervals to your running routine.  Run flat out for 30-90 seconds and then walk or light jog for 30-90 seconds.  That constant challenging of your body and keeping it guessing as to what is coming next will really burn the calories and really help your aerobic conditioning.  Do a google search for High Intensity Interval Training for more info.  It works!!!

Weight lifting will also burn calories and tone and build muscle you will potentially lose through excess cardio.  Lot's of things you can do at home with just your body weight like planks, reverse crunches, push ups, squats etc.  It will burn lots of calories and tone and shape your body the way you want to. 

yes, exercise will make you hungry.  the thing is, being excessively hungry doesn't have to mean eating excessively.  your stomach doesn't get any bigger just because you're hungrier.

eat something small within 30 minutes of your run, whether you're hungry or not (i always am; i have to eat almost immediately).  that will help to moderate your hunger.  then eat a normal meal at the normal time.

and try not to look for things that suppress your appetite; that's a red herring.  eating is good; eating too much is the problem.

p georgian, pretty much nailed it on the head, but I was the exact same way and I thought to myself I could never do this forever, but I stuck it out, cheating here and there when I really felt like I wasnt gonna make it, and my appetite has adjusted, but also make sure you are not undereating and make sure you did not cut your calories to drastically, you should cut them gradually.

Here's that Time article that Applemilk1 mentioned:  http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html

I just read it a couple days ago and its been on my mind. 

I do yoga.  It helps me focus and doesn't make me crazy hungry the way running did.  However, I think the key is increasing your exercise bit by bit to make sure you aren't working out too much.  I used to run 3 miles a day, which isn't too much, but it just got me really hungry.  Now I do yoga and I'm starting to add in a mile of running on alternative days.  I'm not nearly as hungry plus getting all the benefits of exercising.